Embodiments of the present invention relate to video coding and, in particular, to masking of video content prior to such coding.
Many modern consumer electronics support video coding processes in which electronic devices capture, code and transmit image information of a local environment. While such applications are convenient, in some applications, the electronics capture too much information. Such devices do not provide to operators a convenient mechanism to redact or mask out unwanted image content. To maintain a desired degree of privacy, operators often have to constrain the amount of image information that is captured by their devices. Otherwise, those devices typically code all image data that is input to it.
The inventors recognize a need in the art for a device that dynamically distinguishes different elements of image content within a video sequence and masks out elements that are unwanted. No known system provides such functionality.